Baroness Amos: I have been informed of this incident both by DfID staff in Dhaka and by the British high commission (BHC). The high commission and DfID staff in Dhaka have liaised closely over the handling of the incident.
	On 27 February, two DfID Bangladesh UK staff went to the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) to visit NGO partners receiving DfID funds via the Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not been notified officially of the visit but the NGO partners had alerted local authorities.
	The two DfID staff were stopped at an army checkpoint in Bandarban. It is unclear whether the soldiers involved had been notified of the visit. However, they prevented the officials from visiting one of the partner NGOs—Mrochet. After a three-hour wait, they were allowed to proceed to visit another NGO. We subsequently received reports that, on 23 February, Mr Ranglai Mro, the executive director of Mrochet, had been arrested and allegedly physically mistreated in custody.
	DfID alerted BHC of the incident on return to Dhaka. The acting high commissioner raised the issue with the caretaker Government's adviser for foreign affairs (the de facto Minister) when he called on him on 12 March and the BHC also raised the issue at the EU heads of mission meeting on 11 March. The EU heads of mission agreed to démarche the caretaker Government's adviser for foreign affairs (the de facto Minister) on the issues of CHT affairs and human rights. BHC will ensure that the aide-memoire for this meeting refers to concerns over the obstruction of diplomatic officials making official visits.
	An EU heads of mission visit to the CHT is scheduled for next week, during which BHC will again pursue this issue, as well as a more general assessment of conditions in the CHT.